Three first-period goals fuel Avalanche past lowly Kings

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Colorado Avalanche made sure that
Jason LaBarbera did not enjoy his return.

Ryan Smyth sparked a first-period rally and Peter Budaj made 19
saves as the Avalanche held on for a 4-2 triumph over the Los
Angeles Kings on Monday night.

Brett Clark and Jean-Michael Liles each had two assists for the
Avalanche, who have won three straight games.

"I think our guys were playing really well defensively," Budaj
said. "We were thinking defense first. When that happens we're
going to create a lot of scoring chances and not allow many."

Smyth opened the scoring on a power play at 2:37, beating
LaBarbera with a backhander. It was Smyth's 11th goal of the
season.

"It's a big win for us," Smyth said. "We've been struggling on
the road. We got off to a good start tonight."

Colorado doubled its lead just 62 ticks later when Jaroslav
Hlinka notched his fifth tally of the campaign, launching a
wrist shot past LaBarbera to extend the advantage to 2-0.

Paul Stastny gave the Avalanche a 3-0 edge with 5:48 remaining
in the opening period, firing a wrist shot past LaBarbera for
his team-leading 15th tally.

LaBarbera, who has been out of the lineup since December 1 with
soreness in his ribs, kept Los Angeles in the contest by
stopping 36 of the 39 shots he faced.

"I feel pretty good," LaBarbera said. "It took a little bit of
time to get going, felt a little rusty in the first period, but
physically I feel good."

Dustin Brown ended Budaj's shutout bid just 36 seconds into the
third period while on a man advantage when he deflected
defenseman Rob Blake's shot into the goal to cut the deficit to
3-1.

Michal Handzus halved Colorado's lead with a shorthanded goal at
4:46 of the final session when he beat Budaj with a wrist shot.
Handzus' third shorthanded tally of the season made the score
3-2.

"It's frustrating," LaBarbera said. "You can't get behind 3-0
against a team like that. We did a good job in the third trying
to come back."

"Obviously, things didn't go the way we wanted in the third
period," Smyth said. "But we persevered and came out with a
win."

Ben Guite sealed the victory for the Avalanche with an empty-net
goal with just 67 seconds left in the game.

The Kings have lost four consecutive contests and eight of their
last 10 as they own the worst record in the NHL.

"For whatever reason, it just doesn't seem like we can get 60
minutes together," LaBarbera said. "It's costing us games and
putting us further down in the standings."

"The game was lost on the number of turnovers we had and the
number of lost puck battles down low in our end," former
Avalanche and current Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "Those
were the things that ended up being the difference makers."